The colors and light in this intermission space were breathtaking. Our guide joked that the carpet gave away when the building was completed: the 1970s. It wasn't, however, Utzon who designed these interiors. In 1965, a new government came into power and due to the project's cost and timeline overruns, they stopped paying Utzon. He was offered the choice of staying on as an unpaid adviser or leaving the job as chief architect. He chose the latter and Peter Hall, with Lionel Todd and David Littlemore as well as the New South Wales government architect Ted Farmer, took over and completed all of the interiors. Photo 8 of 14 in Sydney's Surprising Opera House by Miyoko Ohtake

Sydney's Surprising Opera House

8 of 14

The colors and light in this intermission space were breathtaking. Our guide joked that the carpet gave away when the building was completed: the 1970s. It wasn't, however, Utzon who designed these interiors. In 1965, a new government came into power and due to the project's cost and timeline overruns, they stopped paying Utzon. He was offered the choice of staying on as an unpaid adviser or leaving the job as chief architect. He chose the latter and Peter Hall, with Lionel Todd and David Littlemore as well as the New South Wales government architect Ted Farmer, took over and completed all of the interiors.